Matthias Buchinger (; June 2, 1674 – January 17, 1740), sometimes called Matthew Buckinger in English, was a German

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

, magician, calligrapher, and performer who was born without hands or feet and was tall. Buchinger was especially noted for his

micrography Micrography (from Greek language, Greek, literally small-writing – "Μικρογραφία"), also called microcalligraphy, is a Jewish form of calligrams developed in the 9th century, with parallels in Christianity and Islam,Ansbach Ansbach ( , ; ) is a city in the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk, administrative region of Mittelfranken, Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränk ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, without hands or legs, now considered to be Phocomelia. An artist and performer, he "traveled all over Northern Europe to entertain kings and aristocrats as well as hoi polloi with amazing feats of physical dexterity" and was known as “The Greatest German Living” and "Little Man from

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

". He travelled to England trying to get a court appointment with King George I; unsuccessful, he then moved to Ireland where he gave public demonstrations, in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1720 and in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

in 1722. He also is rumored to have had children by as many as 70 mistresses. Buchinger's fame was so widespread that in the 1780s the term "Buckinger's boot" existed in England as a euphemism for the

vagina In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular sex organ, reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The #Vag ...

(because the only "limb" he had was his

penis A penis (; : penises or penes) is a sex organ through which male and hermaphrodite animals expel semen during copulation (zoology), copulation, and through which male placental mammals and marsupials also Urination, urinate. The term ''pen ...

). Buchinger died in Cork, Ireland. Despite his having small, finlike appendages for hands, his engravings were incredibly detailed. One such engraving, a self-portrait, was so detailed that a close examination of the curls of his hair revealed that they were in fact seven biblical psalms and the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

, inscribed in miniature letters. Buchinger was also an accomplished magician, causing balls to disappear from under cups and birds to appear from nowhere. It also was said that he was unbeatable at cards and would dazzle audiences with his amazing displays of

marksmanship A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In modern military usage this typically refers to the use of projectile weapons such as an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle (or a sniper rifle) to shoot ...

. Buchinger made (or mended) the oldest existing model in a bottle in 1719. It is a model of miners underground and can be seen in Snowshill Manorbr>
He had tremendous

dexterity Fine motor skill (or dexterity) is the coordination of small muscles in movement with the eyes, hands and fingers. The complex levels of manual dexterity that humans exhibit can be related to the nervous system. Fine motor skills aid in the growt ...

, in spite of his disability. Buchinger's musical skills included the ability to play a half-dozen musical instruments including the dulcimer, hautboy,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

, and

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

and several of his own invention.

Family

Buchinger was married four times and had 14 children. His first three wives (Elsche Shoomaker, Margeth Afsawein, Ann Catharin Kemchmeyer) all died shortly after giving birth and his fourth wife, Ann Elizabeth Teys outlived him.

Legacy

The

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

presented 16 of his graphic works in a historical show entitled, "Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger's Drawings From the Collection of Ricky Jay".Schjeldahl, Peter
"Seeing and Believing: the mysteries of Matthias Buchinger"
''The New Yorker'', January 25, 2016 Jay, a magician and "collector of antique marvels", tracked down Buchinger's works for more than 30 years. He chronicled his pursuit of all things Buchinger in a book called ''Matthias Buchinger: 'The Greatest German Living' by Ricky Jay, Whose Peregrinations in Search of the 'Little Man of Nuremberg' Are Herein Revealed''.

Family

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading